Reviews: A Year of Tanith Lee

Quest for the White Witch —
Tanith Lee
Birthgrave, book 3

I
only just now got my hands on a copy of 1978’s
Quest
for the White Witch
,
the third and final volume in Tanith Lee’s
Birthgrave
series. A fine choice for Throwback Thursday! If only this were
Thursday and not Friday.

Heir
to godlike powers that would make him lord of any land he cared to
possess, Vazkor has but one aim: to find the goddess Karrakaz, the
woman who abandoned him as a child. Having found her, he will have
his revenge.

Heart-Beast —
Tanith Lee

Many
travel to better themselves, seeking fame, fortune and knowledge in
far off lands. Perhaps Daniel Vehmund initially sought to better
himself, but by the time he appears in Tanith Lee’s standalone
fantasy Heart-Beast,
he has embraced a life of expatriate decadence, reveling in the
exotic vices of the East. The odds that Daniel will return home
alive, let alone healthy, seem quite poor.

And
then comes Daniel’s encounter with the tomb-robber and the cursed
diamond …

The Blood of Roses —
Tanith Lee

Tanith
Lee’s 1990 standalone novel Blood
of Roses
is set in a fantasy world that mirrors the Europe of the dark ages.
This is world where the Church is just as corrupt as it was in our
real world, where the pagan past is more present than rulers prefer
to believe, and … where vampires and shape-shifters are real.

Sand —
Tanith Lee
Blake's 7, book 48

Sand
was the ninth episode in Blake’s 7’s fourth and to date final season.
It was also the second and final Blake’s 7 episode written by Tanith Lee.

Five
years before the start of this episode, an unlucky spacecraft
crash-landed on the isolated world Virn. The crew survived long
enough to send out a series of increasingly desperate distress calls
to the Federation before succumbing to what the castaways thought was
a local virus. Now that it is far too late, Commissioner Sleer and a
small team have come to investigate Virn, which they believe may
contain a mysterious substance of use to the Federation.

Did
I say “Sleer?” The Commissioner may be using that name but anyone
familiar with the series would know at a glance that “Sleer” is
none other than long time series antagonist Servalan! Who is
considerably less dead than her enemies believe!

Night’s Sorceries —
Tanith Lee
Tales of the Flat Earth, book 5

Tanith
Lee’s 1987 Night’s
Sorceries: Stories from the Time of Azhriaz is
the final volume in the Tales
of the Flat Earth
quintology. In many cases, the stories illustrate the consequences of
an enduring, passionate love (Sovaz/Azhriaz and Chuz) for innocent bystanders.

Delirium’s Mistress —
Tanith Lee
Tales of the Flat Earth, book 4

Tanith
Lee’s 1986
Delirium’s
Mistress
is the fourth book in her Tales
of the Flat Earth
series.

Although
true love is alien to the demons who live beneath the Flat Earth,
Azhrarn truly loved his Dunizel. She died, as mortals do. An enraged
Lord of Darkness fixed the guilt on his brother Chuz, Master of
Delusion, and vowed to even the score at some later date.

Azhrarn
has one tangible keepsake of Dunizel: their daughter, whom her mother
named Sovaz. The girl’s demon father calls her Azhriaz. He does not
love her as he did her mother; he sees her only as a possible playing
piece in his games. He keeps her sequestered in his underground city
until
he finds a use for her.

Sarcophagus —
Tanith Lee
Blake's 7, book 35

Tanith
Lee wrote the script for the 1980 Sarcophagus,
a third season episode of Terry Nation’s Blake’s
7. Before
I talk about the episode, let me explain Blake’s 7.

Blake’s
7 was
a British science fiction television program. It was broadcast on
BBC1 from 1978 to 1981. Unlike
StarTrek,
in which the Federation was supposed to be a force for good in the
galaxy, Blake’s
7’s
Federation is explicitly dystopian and oppressive. It may not be
coincidental that B7’s Federation uses a symbol that is essentially
the Trek
Federation’s
Starfleet symbol turned on its side1.

The
episode opens with a lengthy funerary ceremony, during which odd
images are shown (their significance will become clear only later).
At the end of the ceremony, the entire structure in which the rites
were held is shot off into deepest space.

The Winter Players —
Tanith Lee

You
might think after my experiences scrambling to find the books I
wanted to review for the Fifty
Nortons in Fifty Weeks
project, I would have learned to acquire all the books needed for
grand projects before I launched them. Nope, which is why I am
reviewing Tanith Lee’s 1976 standalone fantasy The
Winter Players now,
in May 2016, and not back in late 2015 as planned.

Bronze-haired
Oaive is the latest in a long line of priestesses, each trained by
her predecessor in the arts of magic. Their duties are to protect
their village and to guard the three sacred relics hidden within the
shrine: the Ring, the Jewel and the Bone.

Sixteen-year-old
Oaive has been priestess for just two years when the grey-haired
stranger comes to town. He ends a way of life that has persisted
beyond memory and history.

Women as Demons: The Male Perception of Women Through Space and Time —
Tanith Lee

Tanith
Lee’s 1989 Women
as Demons: The Male Perception of Women Through Space and Time is,
like Red
as Blood
or
The Gorgon,
a single author collection. Oddly enough, I had never seen this one
until my niece Amy bought it for me. This may be because the collection
has, as far as I can tell, had exactly two editions in the last
quarter century. More on that later …

The
title is pretty descriptive: Lee is writing about women as figures of
malign, terrible power. Will she embrace the trope? Will she subvert it?

A Heroine of the World —
Tanith Lee

In
Tanith Lee’s 1989 A
Heroine of the World, Aradia
is a child of thirteen when the war begins and her comfortable world
disintegrates. She is not much older by the end of the novel, but in
just a few years, this former rich girl takes on many identities to
survive: a servant, a war-bride, an emperor’s mistress. Among others.

Aradia’s parents, certain of victory, blithely ride off to war,leaving Aradia with a cold, unsympathetic aunt. Aradia never sees her parents again. Her father
dies in a cavalry charge, her mother in an exploding munitions dump.
The conquering Kronians occupy the City where Aradia lives. The aunt
commits suicide in despair.

Lycanthia or The Children of Wolves —
Tanith Lee

1981’s
Lycanthia
or The Children of Wolves is
one of Tanith Lee’s standalone fantasies. It is not one that lends
itself to sequels.

Christian
Dorse returns to the family chateau. It had been lost to debt by his
grandfather and has only now been returned to the Dorse family. The
restored owner believes himself In the grip of a fatal malady, and
does not expect to long enjoy possession of the estate.

The Book of the Mad —
Tanith Lee
The Secret Books of Paradys, book 4

1993’s
The
Book of the Mad
is the fourth and final volume in Tanith Lee’s The
Secret Books of Paradys series.
It is also the first book in this series that prompted me to shout
angrily at whoever wrote the cover copy.

The
Paris of our real world may be far across the Uchronic seas from
Paradys, but Paradys need not feel lonely. Two other versions of the
depraved city, Paradise and Paradis, are close at hand. One only need
know the correct magical path to walk from one to another.

Alas,
at present the only two people who know that secret are Felion and
Smara, and they are as mad as they are murderous. They are confined
to the Paradys lunatic asylum.

The Book of the Dead —
Tanith Lee
The Secret Books of Paradys, book 3

1991’s
The
Book of the Dead
is the third in Tanith Lee’s The
Secret Books of Paradys
series. Like The
Book of the Damned,
it is a collection of short works. Also like The
Book of the Damned,
it is filled with characters making decisions they probably will
regret, for however brief a time remains to them.

Electric Forest —
Tanith Lee

The
Tanith Lee 1979 standalone Electric
Forest
is one of her straightforward SF stories.

Magdala
was clearly an exceptional child, but, sadly enough, not in any good way:

On
any planet of the Earth Conclave, fetal conception was the controlled
result of selective, artificial impregnation. This ensured that all
children born were healthy. Occasionally, however, mistakes occurred
in the area of contraception, and a fetus was conceived biologically.
Sometimes, such children were less than perfect. It had happened that
Magdala Cled was one of these.

which
is why her mother surrendered her to State Orphanage C; why her
fellow orphans tormented her; why despite her natural intelligence
she was consigned to a menial job; and why the name everyone called
her was not her legal name but rather “Ugly.”

The Book of the Beast —
Tanith Lee
The Secret Books of Paradys, book 2

1988’s
The
Book of the Beast is
the second of Tanith Lee’s The
Secret Books of Paradys. The Book of the Damned was
a collection;
The Book of the Beast is
a novel. Made out of short stories! Mysterious are the ways of
authors … or perhaps publishers.

Young
scholar Rauolin had no inkling of the dark history of the D’Uscaret
clan when he took a lodging in their ancient home. Others are better
informed—the name alone is enough to reduce one prostitute to
hysterics—but poor Rauolin doesn’t begin to grasp the trouble he
has invited until after his assignation with the enchanting and quite
dead Helise D’Uscaret.

The Book of the Damned —
Tanith Lee
The Secret Books of Paradys, book 1

1988’s
The
Book of the Damned is
the first volume in Tanith Lee’s four volume series, The
Secret Books of Paradys.

“Paradys”
is an example of what our pals Kœssler and Derocquigny called “faux
amis du traducteur”
or “false friends.” That is also a good term for the boon
companions someone might find in Paradys. Paradys, this fantasy
world’s answer to Paris, may sound like Paradise,
but anyone seeking a lost Eden or even a walled garden in Paradys is
a fool.

The Silver Sky —
Tanith Lee

Although
she may be best known for her novels and short-form collections,
Tanith Lee worked in media other than print. For example, fans of the
television show Blake’s 7 may know her as the author of the episodes “Sarcophagus” and
“Sand.” Lee also wrote for radio. People familiar with my
Livejournal More
Words, Deeper Hole
know that I have a long-standing interest in science fiction audio
dramas. When I discovered that Daughter of the Night
provided access to Lee’s The
Silver Sky,
which was broadcast on Saturday Night Theatreon
9 August 1980, I couldn’t resist downloading and listening to it.

Scientists
have come up with a theory suggesting that an actual time machines
might be possible. Solid British engineering of the sort that made
the Comet
and the R101 household names turned that theory into operational reality! Alas,
good old British politics may cut off the funding for the project
before it can send its first manned capsule into the depths of time.

Lead
researcher Paul is having none of that political nonsense! And so
with the same cool intellect that has left his marriage in ruins, he
quietly alters the schedule so that the next test flight will also be
a manned one. What could possibly go wrong?

Tamastara or The Indian Nights —
Tanith Lee

Tanith
Lee’s 1984 Tamastara
or The Indian Nights collects
seven stories, five original to this volume. I was actually going to
skip this one, in part because for some reason I had never catalogued
it and thought I didn’t have a copy, and in part because “British
author tackles Indian fantasy” filled me with foreboding,
especially in the context of the more problematic aspects of
The Storm Lord.

Having
discovered that I do in fact have a copy, I feel that I am required
to review it, trepidation or no.

The Gorgon and Other Beastly Tales —
Tanith Lee

I
didn’t care for 1985’s The Gorgon
and Other Beastly Tales
when I first read it, when it first came out. Not because it lacked
any virtue but simply because it wasn’t my favourite, Lee collection,
Red
as Blood.
What it is
is another fine collection by Tanith Lee, one with fewer dark fairy
tales and more horror.

Sung in Shadow —
Tanith Lee

1983’s Sung in Shadow is Tanith Lee’s reworking of a certain famous play involving star-crossed, love-struck teens. I don’t know why I was surprised to discover this as I read: the play is arguably the iconic romance in English lit. It is also just as intense, melodramatic, and bloody as the best of Lee.

Sana Verensa’s great families are united on one point only: that they are hate and distrust each other and engage in endless struggle for dominance and revenge. Alliances come and go while old hatreds are nursed for decades. In a city plagued by continual violence between bravos, what hope has love?

Who can know where love will find us,Love far darker than the night, Love far colder than the snow—That has been both cold and bright—Sung in shadow, that was show,Bitter-tasting are you now,Music of sweet and delight

Red as Blood —
Tanith Lee

Tanith
Lee’s 1983 collection of re-imagined fairy tales, Red
as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer,
is by far my favourite Tanith Lee book. It’s not just that the
stories in it are wonderful. I picked it up on a whim when I was a
lowly security guard at a particularly unpleasant post1. The
mass-market edition of Red
as Blood
had a very convenient property from my perspective: it fit into the
inside breast pocket of a uniform without leaving a telltale bulge. I
read and reread it a lot in late 1983, early 1984.

I
have not reread it in years and years. As my Because
My Tears Are Delicious to You
series has shown, not all old favourites stand up to a reread. So how
did Red
as Blood
stand up?

Anackire —
Tanith Lee
Wars of Vis, book 2

1983’s
Anackire,
second in the Wars
of Vis
series, picks up a generation or so after the events of The
Storm Lord.
The cover of the book bills it as “an epic companion novel,”
suggesting that this takes place in a shared world and that it is not
a direct sequel. Not so! This is as sequelly a sequel as ever
sequelled a melodramatic
fantasy novel.

I
disliked The
Storm Lord and
I disliked this book even more.

Raldnor
has vanished into legend—or possibly into another time or place.
None can say with certainty. He seems to have left peace of a sort
behind him. Peace is an unlikely thing in the tumultuous lands of
Vis. Indeed, as the events of this novel will show, it has only been
a pause between wars. As the book opens, that pause is drawing to an end.

Cyrion —
Tanith Lee

Cyrion,
Tanith Lee’s 1982 collection,
gathers all of the stories featuring the eponymous hero. In addition
to the previously published material, Lee includes one work original
to this volume, Cyrion
in Stone,
as well as extensive linking material.

In
a secondary world much like the Medieval Middle East, a clumsy,
ginger-haired man stumbles into the Honey Garden, an unremarkable
inn. The man is Roilant and he comes in search of the legendary
Cyrion, Man of Mystery! Cyrion is not present but some of the patrons
have heard of him and are happy to share what they know of the
renowned adventurer.